


Absolute Belief

by Tarlan



Category: Riddick (2013), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), The Chronicles of Riddick Series
Genre: M/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 21:08:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11170107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: Riddick is surprised to discover Vaako was not behind the assasination attempt. Instead he feels strangely relieved.





	Absolute Belief

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wednesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesday/gifts).



> For wednesday: I hope you like this story!

"Both," Krone's woman replied almost breathlessly, answering his question on whether Vaako was alive or dead with a single word, just as he demanded.

That single word answered another unasked question too though Riddick wasn't truly surprised to discover Vaako had kept the throne warm in his absence, eventually taking over as Lord Marshal on the anniversary of his presumed promotion to full death. Vaako was the logical choice after all - Riddick's First Among Commanders and chief advisor, who despite having been the first to kneel before him, had retained the respect of most of the Necromonger elite.

Most, but not all. Riddick had heard talk of several assassination attempts and noticed a few faces missing from those gathering in the Basilica.

What had surprised Riddick was learning Vaako had not been behind the assassination attempt on him. Krone had played them both for fools, his timing perfect and with just one flaw in his plan - Riddick had survived not just the fall from the cliff but a full galactic standard year on that miserable, barren world.

Not!Furya had been every bit as inhospitable as U.V.6, though at least it had been warmer. Yet, despite the months of pain from his healing bones he had slept far better on Not!Furya, no longer with one eye open watching and waiting for betrayal, for a stab in the back. Among humanity he had caged the animal in him, the Furyan, but he had regained his balance, letting the primitive warrior instinct free. He felt powerful now, more in control than when he sat on that metal throne with a thousand Necromongers eager to obey his every order without question.

Still, he wouldn't have survived Not!Furya's deadly mud creatures if not for Boss Johns. Riddick had been betrayed and left for dead so many times in his life he hadn't expected to be rescued with moments to spare, or let go afterwards with his own ship to carry him back to the Necromonger fleet. He knew it didn't make him friends with Boss Johns or his crew. Frenemies, maybe, and all bets were off if they ever crossed paths again because Riddick was a good pay day for any Merc outfit - though with the way the Necromongers were moving from system to system, soon there would be no one left to pay the asking price.

Crematoria was gone. Riddick had personally overseen its destruction during those months while he sat on the Necromonger throne, with many of the convicts now purified and wearing Necromonger armor. For most it was a step up from incarceration in that hellhole for the rest of their lives, with a promise of a better life in the next 'verse if they died in due time, cleansing this 'verse of the stain of humanity. Having never stepped into the purification chamber or fully accepted the philosophy, Riddick didn't believe any of it but _they_ believed, and in the end that was all that mattered.

Some part of him envied them their newfound belief in something.

With the fast Merc ship he could have gone almost anywhere in the galaxy but Riddick had returned to the Necromonger fleet purely to take his revenge on those who had left him for dead, not expecting to discover Vaako had played no part in it. A whole galactic standard year focused on making Vaako pay for his betrayal, and now he felt... cheated, uneasy, and yet strangely relieved. He recalled the many opportunities Vaako had to end his life in this 'verse, the assassination attempts foiled by Vaako's total commitment to the Necromonger philosophy and cause. Not once had he taken advantage of any situation presented to him, not even after Riddick held a shiv to his throat... or after Riddick bedded his consort and discarded her the next day.

Vaako hadn't seemed to care, and Riddick learned soon after that Necromonger marriages were less about love and more about alliances, on who could provide greater opportunities to improve status within Necromonger society. It seemed being the consort of Riddick's First Among Commanders had not been enough for Dame Vaako; her greedy eyes focused only on attaining the highest rank. She had expected her husband to kill Zhylaw and become the next Lord Marshal and when he failed to deliver the goods she calculated on Riddick's continued interest in her, from when they had first met while the fleet orbited Helion Prime. She had set her sights on becoming Dame Riddick, consort to the new Lord Marshal. 

Expecting Riddick to fall for her many charms she played her hand, and lost everything when Vaako refused to take her back after Riddick rejected her overtures, making her a sworn enemy to them both. Despite being lovers of death, the Necromongers had laws dictating when a death was honorable, in due time or not, and apparently, killing a consort who had fallen out of favor was not considered honorable. If there was one thing Riddick could state categorically about Vaako it was that he believed in Necroism absolutely, enough to be the only one who acted when an opportunity presented itself to kill the dishonorable and cowardly Zhylaw.

While the former Dame Vaako lived they would have to watch their backs for she was nothing if not resourceful. Like a sleek and beautiful cat she had landed on her feet, still preening and sharpening her claws. Riddick had seen the her regain a high position as the consort of Commander Toal, Riddick's second in command, seducing him easily. He wondered if Toal was now Vaako's First Among Commanders, and whether she was priming Toal to become the next Lord Marshal.

He had to admire her.

Surprisingly, Vaako had not taken another consort to replace her despite many offers. Instead he would frown on the number of concubines Riddick took to his bed, each of them desperate to prove they should be Riddick's one and only consort, but all of them had left Riddick unsatisfied; alone in the crowded chamber, and one of them had given him a new scar to add to the many scattered across his body.

Until his unscheduled vacation on Not!Furya he had been feeling restless, trapped into a role he had taken out of sheer spite. He had started making escape plans, realizing he had exchanged one prison for another; a gilded cage rather than some dank hellhole where he might never again see natural light. He rarely slept for the dreams of Furya had still plagued him, relentless, filling his few hours of sleep with visions of that same woman seeking revenge for a whole race through him. He laughed softly, under his breath. He thought killing Zhylaw and taking the Necromonger throne would be enough to appease her thirst for blood, but if she expected him to try to derail the entire Necromonger campaign then she had picked the wrong Furyan.

Whole universe was circling the drain long before he was born, and good riddance to it.

He had needed to see Furya though, the place of his birth, and only one man had the coordinates locked inside his head after Zhylaw deleted them from all the navigation data, wanting to hide the true extent of his cowardice. He still needed to confront Vaako, but Riddick refused to acknowledge the small thrill of excitement inside that should have been extinguished when he learned Vaako had played no part in Krone's assassination attempt.

"Now where would you go, Vaako?" he murmured.

He half-expected an alarm to sound through the ship but Krone's concubine must have kept her silence as promised, likely waiting to see what might happen next. Riddick moved through the quiet corridors to his former quarters on the Basilica ship only to find them just as he had left them. Even the blood stain remained on the chair, brown and dry with age, and the bed was still a tangle of mussed sheets. It was unusual, as if the room had been sealed waiting for his return.

"Interesting," Riddick murmured as he had expected Vaako to move into the luxurious quarters set aside for the Lord Marshal the moment he was declared full dead.

Not wanting to meet with any guards, Riddick took the less traversed corridors linking his old quarters to Vaako's, overriding the lock with ease and slipping inside. The room smelled only of Vaako and Riddick could see no female accoutrements that would suggest he had taken a new consort over this past year. He opened hidden closets to find only Vaako's clothing, unable to resist inhaling the familiar male scent. Despite his bantering with Dahl, neither of them had been interested in sex with each other, but Riddick could feel his cock twitch now.

"Interesting," he rumbled again, one hand palming his growing erection as thoughts of Vaako mingled with the scent of the Necromonger filling the room.

Riddick toyed with the idea of entertaining himself on Vaako's bed, allowing the animal side to slash through the denial to a hidden truth, that Vaako excited him more than any of the many concubines he had taken to his bed, More than Dahl. He let the sensations build, putting him on the edge, but denied himself release. Instead Riddick settled onto the firm mattress, propping himself up on a hard pillow, and crossing his ankles as he waited for Vaako's return.

An hour passed before the door slid open and Riddick watched from the dark shadows in the bedroom as Vaako wearily began to disrobe, removing the four-faced helmet and the heavy ornate armor worn only by a Lord Marshal. Riddick could see the spectral after-cast of his movements - half-dead since his journey across the Threshold.

'One word. Is he dead or alive?'

'Both.'

For someone who had finally gained everything he had wanted - transcendence - he didn't seem particularly zen. Instead Vaako stared hard at his reflection in the mirror on a vanity unit, lips twisted in anger.

"You weren't there," Vaako stated softly before dropping into a heavy chair set in front of the mirror, and Riddick wondered who he was talking to, or about. Vaako swept the contents off the vanity table in a sudden fit of anger. "Krone said you died in due time. Damn you, Riddick. Why weren't you there?"

"Maybe because I'm here," Riddick answered, voice low and gravelly, enjoying the way Vaako jumped swiftly to his feet, his ghostly echo trailing until it caught up.

"Riddick," he breathed.

Caught off guard, Riddick could see the shock morph into something akin to joy before it was quickly schooled to the usual arrogance that Riddick knew so well.

"Thought you'd betrayed me, Vaako. Thought you'd sent me to Not!Furya with Krone to arrange a little... accident."

"Not Furya?" he seemed genuinely confused.

Vaako had programmed the coordinates into the ship, but Riddick knew Krone could have overridden them easily to cover up his assassination plan. Perhaps he should have let Krone talk a little longer, but the details were unimportant. What was important was the barely suppressed pleasure he could sense thrumming through Vaako, and his own desire for Vaako in turn. A real eye-opener explaining why he had focused so hard on gaining revenge on Vaako for his betrayal, and why he felt so cheated and lost once he learned the truth. He couldn't deny it any longer, the way he felt when he looked at the powerful Necromonger. It was no wonder none of those concubines satisfied him when what he wanted was a whole different animal, a whole different gender.

He wanted Vaako, and if that small slip moments ago was anything to go by then Vaako wanted him too.

"I will see Krone meets an untimely death," Vaako gritted out.

"Already done. Chatty Cathy. Talked too much, said too little."

"Then what do you want, Riddick? The Necromonger throne?"

Riddick laughed harshly, an almost barking sound. "Never wanted it in the first place, Vaako. Too much talking." He sobered and looked at Vaako heatedly, climbing off the bed and walking slowly towards him. "What I want... is you."

Vaako's eyes widened a fraction; a new expression crossed his face, one of hope and intrigue combined.

"Unprecedented... but I know of no Necromonger law forbidding it."

By now Riddick was just a few steps away, close enough to have to look up to meet Vaako's eyes. Two strong males studying each other, wanting to dominate the other and yet both also willing to submit. They would fight, sometimes aggressively, drawing blood and bruising flesh, but they would glory in both victory and defeat every time. It was an exhilarating thought as Riddick dragged Vaako into the first of many hard kisses, hissing when Vaako bit into his lip and drew first blood. Dragging clothes aside they rutted against each other, wrestling, digging fingers into each other's flesh hard enough to leave marks, and crying out in pleasure when it swept over them like a tidal wave, senses floating until they crashed back down into their own bodies, so completely sated Riddick could barely raise an arm to gather Vaako into a final, softer kiss.

Transcendent.

They drifted for a while, letting the ebb and flow of spent pleasure lull them towards sleep, knowing there was time to explore this new facet of their relationship later, perhaps with gentler touches.

"I will name you my consort," Vaako murmured, "Lord Riddick."

Riddick smiled, knowing this was not just the afterglow talking. All the privileges and title without formal rank. Obedience without question, and without having to command. This was what Dame Vaako had wanted, the power behind the throne, with the freedom to move as he pleased. To stay or to go.

"Butcher Bay," he rumbled softly.

Vaako frowned so Riddick enlightened him.

"Prison world. Need to settle an old score... and you get new recruits for the Campaign."

"Coordinates?"

Riddick reeled them off and smiled as Vaako sent the order to the navigation officer, feeling the slight vibration as the engines came online and the great ship began to move towards its next target, leading the fleet.

"Furya lies along that trajectory," Vaako stated, and Riddick raised his head at the coincidence, feeling the weight of destiny heavy on his shoulders once more.

He had never believed in destiny or coincidence despite the old Wind Bag's prophecy. It sparked renewed interest in Necroism, the Threshold, and in what lay beyond.

"Tell me about Underverse," he demanded softly, listening as Vaako shared what he had found on the other side of the Threshold, of worlds filled with those who had died in due time, reborn.

The Necromongers believed in one God, and as Riddick listened the last of his doubts evaporated, his belief in their cause growing stronger. One God, probably the same God, and he believed in God absol-fucking-lutely, except he didn't hate Him absolutely, not anymore. Instead he felt as if he could believe in destiny, that it had brought him full circle, bringing sense and meaning to all he had suffered, and putting him exactly where he needed to be... by Vaako's side.

He could live with that.

END  
 


End file.
